St Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington, DC; wall of Room in Ward Retreat 1
Reproductions made by a patient, a disturbed case of dementia precox [praecox?]; pin or fingernail used to scratch paint from wall, top coat of paint buff color, superimposed upon a brick red coat of paint. Pictures symbolize events in patient's past life and represent a mild state of mental regression. Undated, but likely early 20th century.
I saw recently that the National Museum of Health and Medicine has released a flickr stream of images from its archives, but I hadn't had time to really delve into them. I finally did so this weekend, and was genuinely impressed. Assuming that they continue their efforts - they've been quietly posting photos, 200 at a time, since 2006 - this could become an invaluable public resource.
The flickr sets are selected from the NMHM's Medical Illustration Service Library, which comprises some 4,500 boxes of medical photographs (!) This article at medical writer Bill Koslosky's blog has more details, including comments from NMHM curator Mike Rhode. Mike Rhode also has his own excellent medical ephemera/imagery blog, A Repository for Bottled Monsters - which he must maintain on his own time, since Walter Reed Medical Center's internal computer network blocks Blogger.
Male and female anatomical mannequins, made of ivory.
In addition to the Klee-esque wall scribblings shown at the top of this post, I was particularly struck by the above photo of two ivory anatomical models similar to this one by Stephan Zick. The handwritten annotation on the photo says simply "Length of figures 6 1/2 inches; view showing the figures open." Who knows how old these specimens were, who created them, or who they belonged to? The disturbed patient's wall etchings likewise invite questions: who was this unnamed artist? What materials served as his or her inspiration - magazines, textbooks, or as the annotation suggests, memories of a life before?
To find the photos, search "otisarchives" on flickr. So far there are three: here, here and here.
- Log in to post comments
Oh my goodness, thank you for pointing that out! I still haven't been to the NMHM but it's at the top of my list, for I hear they have a piece of Lincoln's skull. I recently discovered the Library of Congress of website Flickr as well, they have some real gems.